After The Raven
by Trivun
Summary: After the events of Hell Bent, Clara and Ashildr are travelling through time and space in an American diner. They will encounter all kinds of adventures, precisely the sort the Doctor might enjoy, as they grow closer both as friends and travelling companions... Spoilers for the end of Series 9, also eventual Clara/Ashildr (but with a realistic buildup first!)
1. After Clara

It was hard, she knew, saying goodbye. Although he had tried to remember, in the end she had already accepted that what was done, was done. Such a simple trick, used countless times previously, reversing the polarity... she'd brought it on herself, though for the best of intentions, and now she would have to live with the consequences. As the TARDIS – the new one, that is – de-materialised, and the door to the diner closed, Clara would no longer be a companion of the Doctor. She considered, in a way, that she had graduated from the Class of Whenever, and now it was time to make her own way in the universe.

Well, certainly not alone, at least.

At the controls of the stolen TARDIS stood a young-looking girl, whose eyes subtly displayed an eternity of experience and knowledge. More like the Doctor than either would have cared to admit. Clara knew that both she, and her new travelling partner, had a lot of things in common with the Doctor, things that had inevitably led to this point. Their nature, personalities, an overwhelming desire to see space and time unfold before them. A brief conversation, even, about planning ahead...

"Wiggle room...?" A slightly confused expression on the younger (yet so much older) girl's face.

"Wiggle room, yeah, you know... wiggle room, we could um, you know... stop off, on the way..."

Another look on her face, though less confused this time. A slight smile, more... intrigued. "Where are we going?"

"Gallifrey. Like I said..." a brief sigh... "Gallifrey." Before another smile, from Clara this time, as she released the handbrake and pulled the engine release lever firmly down. The pair staggered against the control console, steadying themselves, while the TARDIS jumped into motion.

"The long way round." A brief glimpse on the console screen, of a familiar blue box passing the diner by, and they were away, ready to take their first steps together into a vast and oh so exciting new world...


	2. What's In A Name?

It hadn't escaped Clara's notice that she hadn't really spoken much to her current partner in crime. Not just on their present journey, wherever they may be headed (since they hadn't set a destination yet, wandering for the past relative day aimlessly through the cosmos), but even before. Most of the interaction had been with the Doctor, or at least while he was present, and what hadn't had been so long ago it was likely to have been lost to the ages. One burning question was at the forefront of Clara's mind, however.

"What should I call you?"

This took the girl known as Me by surprise, though only slightly. She had been wandering the TARDIS halls, getting an idea of the ever shifting layout of the ship, and had literally just returned to the console room through a side door nearly unnoticed by Clara. "I'm... not sure what you mean."

"I mean, what should I call you? I knew you as Ashildr. But you threw that name away. And I can't get used to calling you Me. So, what do I call you?"

Me leaned against the console, the plain white 'desktop theme' (as it were), and considered Clara's words. "I suppose you've only ever known me by those names. I've had so many, but they just get lost over time. It was easier sticking to one. You really can't get used to Me?"

"I can get used to you," replied Clara, deliberately misunderstanding.

"You know what I mean."

"I know. Look, if we're going to travel together, I can't just keep calling you Me. It'll confuse people, not to mention confusing me as well. Me me, not you Me."

"Okay, now you're confusing me as well!" Me began to laugh, a pleasant sound that she hadn't made for such a long time. "I'm sorry. It's been lonely, watching the universe die. Seeing every other immortal disappear into oblivion. I was five minutes from the end, when the Doctor came..."

She choked a little, on the last words. Me had been ready to die as well, to fade out with the rest of existence, when she'd heard the groaning of the Doctor's TARDIS. She remembered hearing from someone, long ago, that the sound was only because the handbrake was still on. It had been a harbinger of doom for her, after the trap street. She had dreaded hearing that sound again, waiting for the Doctor to find her, to take his vengeance. Until she'd seen enough that even the wrath of a Time Lord couldn't faze her. She had played it cool, during that meeting – she had worked out long ago what their eventual reunion would be about. The Hybrid. But at the end of time itself, she had been afraid that he would never return to her. A reversal, in fact, from her earlier fears.

Her pause wasn't lost on Clara. "Are you okay? What's the matter?" Clara walked across to Me, and took her hand, leaning with her against the pale console.

"I'm fine. It's nothing." She looked up at Clara, and in her eyes it was clear that this was something private, not ready to be shared. "Anyway, I think... Ashildr should be fine. It's how you met me. If it's easier for you, then that's okay."

The first little struggle was over. The next day, they would decide where to go. Maybe they would park up on a comet, speeding through a solar system on the very edge of Mutter's Spiral, and get some rest. They had all the time in the world, after all...


	3. Primary Excursion

She was as quiet as a mouse, tiptoeing through the corridors, anxious to avoid any sound that may alert her quarry to her presence. The door didn't creak, the sound of bare feet on soft floor was silent, almost as if the TARDIS herself wanted to aid the endeavour. She made her way closer and closer, within an arms length, in perfect distance to reach forward and...

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" Clara quickly grabbed Ashildr's shoulder and gave her a good shake, the worst alarm in recorded history. She dropped to the floor, on her knees, laughing in the sheer joy of being alive, instead of standing on a cobbled street with death literally flying towards her. Meanwhile, Ashildr leapt out of bed, scrambling for a weapon that wasn't there.

"What the hell are you playing at? I could have killed you!"

Clara smiled. "Oh, lighten up, it was just a bit of fun. Besides, I very much doubt _that._ Immortal, remember?" Without intending to, she lightly touched her wrist, a subconscious reminder.

"We're only a jump away from Gallifrey, you know. Wouldn't take much to drive you back..." Ashildr's face, however, betrayed her. She had found it funny, after the initial shock and brief moment of anger had passed. She'd been without any kind of company for so long, Clara's presence was relatively cathartic. And it was nice to have Clara back in the world of the living. She'd felt so guilty, for so long, for the events in the trap street. Even without her diaries, it was something she'd never forgotten.

"Anyway, time to go. Adventure beckons, right?" Clara left the bedroom as quickly as she'd entered, almost bouncing, only to poke her head around the door for a moment more. "Might want to get dressed first, before breakfast?" She disappeared again, and Ashildr looked down at her attire. A fairly thin and flimsy nightgown, made from the very finest silk of the Madrigal Flutterwing, kept in an old vault on Gallifrey that had lasted until the very end of time itself. It suited her, she thought, with flowing patterns that shimmered as she moved. Kind of clingy, though. She also had a lovely padded coat, lined with Plungboll fur, perfect if they ended up somewhere cold. Still, Clara was right. Time to get dressed, and then... time for adventure.

* * *

Once they'd eaten, healthier fare than one would usually expect in an American diner, it was time to go. They picked a destination almost at random, simply eager to see where pure curiosity would take them. The TARDIS, on the other hand, seemed to have different plans...

"Where are we going?" Ashildr struggled to make herself heard over the sound of the TARDIS engines, as well as struggling to even stand.

"What? I can't hear you!"

"Where is that? When is that?"

"What?"

The back-and-forth discussion was thankfully cut short before it became a recursive loop, when the sound of the engines stopped, the shaking ended, and the TARDIS finally stopped. The girls waited a moment, wondering who would be the first to break the silence.

"Don't worry. It's not... unusual." Clara didn't sound entirely sure of herself, but she pressed on. Someone had to take charge, after all. "The Doctor's TARDIS used to do this all the time. Usually works out okay."

"Yes, and it also usually works out dangerously. I used to keep watch over his companions, remember?"

Clara turned to Ashildr, slightly confused. "What do you mean, keep watch?"

"Didn't he ever tell you? The first time I saw him, I told him. I'd look after his leftovers." Ashildr saw the look on Clara's face at the mention of 'leftovers', and back-pedalled. "I mean, not... I don't mean that. I was... angry. And I was a lot colder back then. A lot can change in a few billion years."

"Yeah..." Clara replied with uncertainty in her voice. "You're right. A lot can change." She had to wonder though, just what had changed? It was interesting, in fact, that Ashildr had remembered her at all. Not just to the end of time, given their interactions with the Doctor, but even before, on the trap street. They'd met once, before, and it had been long before Ashildr began her journals. She resolved to ask Ashildr about that, later, and also about the 'leftovers' comment. For now, she didn't want anything to spoil the familiar sense of adventure that was starting to take over.

"Everything okay?" Ashildr looked across the console, noticing Clara's hesitation. Rather than answer, Clara simply smiled, and bounced across to the door.

"Let's see where we are, shall we?" She opened the door, and walked out, Ashildr following close behind. The TARDIS had landed in what appeared to be a maintenance corridor of some kind, with pipework and cables following the halls and metal panels everywhere. It was relatively dark, with green and red lights alternately flashing on the far side. The diner itself seemed to have shrunk to fit inside, snugly against a coolant tank that dominated one wall, and the door to the console room was now much closer to the front door.

"Interesting," said Clara. "Looks like... _Le Verrier._ But earlier, definitely Earth Alliance though. What does it say on the clock?"

Ashildr strolled back inside the TARDIS, taking a look at the chronometer on the console, and did the quick calculation in her head to get the relative Earth year, in AD. "Year is... 3672."

"Knew it. About a hundred years too early for _Le Verrier._ Still... something feels wrong." No sooner had the words escaped Clara's lips, when out of a side door came a youngish, male figure dressed in soldier's garb, with mildly Oriental features, an oversized gun pointed directly at her. The door to the TARDIS suddenly closed, with Ashildr still inside.

"Hey! Open up!" Ashildr ran across to the door, but it had already locked. She was forced to watch the unfolding events through the screens above the console, though she knew that this was basic security. The TARDIS was trying to protect her, nothing more. Even so, it was enough to make a girl very, very frustrated.

"Hands in the air! Don't move!" The translation matrix kicked in, and Clara recognised the original language as a hybrid of sorts, between French and Chinese, with a little Russian thrown into the mix. She had no idea where this was, if she and Ashildr had ended up in space somewhere, or on a planetary (or even lunar) station, or if they were on Earth itself. She knew for certain only one thing.

Trouble.


	4. Tense Introductions

Clara stood as still as she could, watching the rifle pointed directly at her chest. She may have been functionally immortal, but she had absolutely no desire to test the limits of her new lease of life. She knew Ashildr could still be killed - "immortal, barring accidents" - but she wasn't sure if the same applied to her. She needed to defuse the situation, and fast.

"Stand down, soldier," she started to say, when the soldier in front of her tensed up as if itching to pull the trigger. The weapon was clearly ballistic rather than energy-based, standard issue Earth Alliance military ordnance. Clara recognised the uniform and the gun as being very similar to that worn by the troops on _Le Verrier_ , albeit with a few key differences in design – only to be expected for a gap of a hundred years. Not to mention, there seemed to be a distinct lack of sand people in this instance.

"Who are you, and how did you arrive on this ship?" The soldier looked like he was half caste, a mix of European and Oriental, though he was speaking mostly French, with some Chinese thrown in (she couldn't be certain of the dialect). She could understand him perfectly, of course, and so could Ashildr listening through the TARDIS console screens, thanks to the translation matrix. Which, rather usefully, also allowed her to respond in kind.

 _Bloody hell,_ she thought, _what I wouldn't give for psychic paper..._ Clara wondered just how the Doctor always managed to pull it off. Still, she was certainly a good talker. Maybe honesty would be best, up to a certain point? "My ship, er, crashed into this one. Managed to secure the airlock but I honestly have no idea where I am. Where, um, where is everyone?"

He was still suspicious. "Name of your ship?" She would have to make something up. Would he check any kind of records? This had definitely never happened with the Doctor...

"The Danny Boy," Clara said, more confidently than she felt. Then, "It's pretty old, really. A bit battered, probably not on any kind of register..."

"What's that, behind you?" The soldier was distracted, not surprising considering there was an American diner right in front of him. A perception filter could only go so far, after all.

"That?" She took the chance to turn around. "Wow, no idea. Didn't even notice it. Wonder what it could be?" Then, a problem. What if he tried to open the door? He walked across, the gun no longer pointing at Clara, hand outstretched... "Wonder if it's locked," she said, trying to dissuade him.

The soldier ignored her, and twisted the handle to the diner entrance...

Nothing. It was firmly locked, no amount of turning allowing it to budge.

"Probably a latch or something inside. I'm sure we could open it, you know, from the inside..." It was a desperate chance, but surely Ashildr would be listening? If Clara was taken away, then Ashildr may well be her only chance of getting away. The TARDIS had locked itself, she knew, but there must be an override somewhere, to let the other girl out...

"No matter," said the soldier, his attention returning to Clara. "You, walk. I'll follow."

"Where? No idea where I am, remember?"

"I'll tell you where to turn. Just walk." With that, she had no choice but to walk, and hope that there would be some good at the end of her journey.

* * *

Inside the TARDIS, Ashildr had been listening to the entire discussion. Now, she knew there was a way out, somehow. If she could just find the right switch to unlock the door. "Come on..." she muttered to herself, looking across the control board. There had to be... there. She had it. She'd seen Clara use the same switch a few days ago, relatively speaking, when they'd transported an unconscious Doctor from the end of time to the Nevada desert. A quick flick, and there was the tell-tale sound of the doors unlocking.

She sprang out, alert for any other soldiers that may be lurking, and checked her surroundings. Ashildr had no idea where she was on the ship, or where Clara had been taken, but she guessed the bridge would be the best bet. Unfortunately, she also had no clue where the bridge would be. Unlike Clara, she had no experience of this kind of ship. Or rather, she had, but only a few billion years ago. Not anything she could remember at any rate. She locked the TARDIS behind her, picked a corridor at random, and set off alone.

A few turns later, about half an hour after leaving, Ashildr realised she was hopelessly lost. Judging solely by the state of the corridors, and the industrial feel to her surroundings, she seemed to be moving deeper into the engineering works of the ship, away from the bridge and crew quarters and more towards the engines. With that in mind, she knew that she could orient herself better if she was located at a landmark, and the engines were certainly that. She continued the way she had been going, the same general direction, and hoped this was a fairly small ship...

* * *

Clara felt a sharp prod between her shoulder blades and stumbled forward onto the bridge. There were people here, the only ones she'd seen aside from the soldier outside the TARDIS, and of course herself and Ashildr. They seemed military as well, one in scientist attire with a flak vest just visible underneath the white coat, and two other soldiers. Going by the markings on the shoulders, these were a sergeant and corporal, while the one who had directed her here was a corporal as well.

"What's this?" The sergeant turned from a display and took a brief glance at Clara. The sergeant was a woman, stony-faced, looking faintly East European, with close cropped blonde hair under a helmet. The other corporal was also male, very similar to the one who had brought Clara here, while the scientist was female, smaller than her colleagues, and with a distinctly Western appearance. They all spoke the same hybrid language that Clara had detected before, translated through the TARDIS.

Her captor replied. "Found her down in the lower maintenance tunnels, near the mess hall. Claims she crashed her ship here, but I checked the Alliance records on the way here and there's no record of it."

"Name of the ship?"

"Danny Boy," the corporal replied. The sergeant took out a datapad and scanned through the same records. Nothing came up.

"Never heard of it. Which means, our guest here isn't telling us the truth..."

Time to come clean. Clara had to own up, or there would be no way to turn this to her advantage. "Alright, you got me." Hands in the air, palms facing the troops. "I'll be honest. My ship can travel through space and time. We... I mean, I, landed here by accident. I was _trying_ to go somewhere warm and sunny, but I got dragged to this junk heap of a ship and now I'm stuck here. Happy?"

This didn't quite get the reaction she was hoping for. The soldiers looked at each other, wondering whether to just shoot her or ask her some more questions, when the scientist spoke up. "I believe her."

She had a Canadian accent, although the language was the same as the others. She seemed relatively young, perhaps in her early thirties, with mousey brown hair. Her eyes were strange, though – green and purple together. "I believe her. She wouldn't be the first time traveller to appear on our radar."

There was a hurried, whispered conversation between the sergeant and the scientist, that Clara didn't manage to hear, before they turned to her once more. The sergeant spoke. "There's no way you could have arrived here without us knowing. Yet somehow, you got on board this ship. I don't trust you. But I'm willing to hear what our _esteemed_ colleague has to say."

The matter seemed to be resolved, for the time being. She didn't have their trust, but Clara at least had a chance to operate now without the risk of being shot without notice. "What's going on here?" She was trying her luck, but a bit of knowledge couldn't hurt. "I recognise the style of the ship, but it looks abandoned. Are you really the only people here?"

The sergeant looked at her corporals before replying, with some hesitation. "There's been an insurgency. We're attached to a frigate in orbit around Io, we received a distress call from this ship twelve hours ago. The registered owner is an insurgent sympathiser. When we arrived, it was abandoned. Anything else is classified."

"Oh, come on. I'm already here, you may as well tell me the whole story?"

"What do you not understand about not trusting you? You're not under my command, therefore don't expect any more information."

That was it for now. "At least tell me your names?" No response. "I'm Clara. Clara Oswald."

More hesitation, however briefly. "Sergeant Zolner. That," she gestured towards the soldier who had brought Clara here, "is Corporal Ivan Qiang." (or as Clara heard it, chee-ang) "The other is Corporal Pyotr Jian." It was unmistakeable, the mixed heritage in the names, Russian and Chinese, a distinct sign of the cultural melting pot that was the Earth Alliance.

"And the scientist?" She wasn't sure if it would help, but Clara could definitely detect some animosity between the soldiers and the scientist. Maybe it was down to their different backgrounds, the different professions – shoot first, ask questions never, versus a more methodical and logical approach.

"Our technical attaché, a civilian advisor. She's an expert in artificial intelligence. Dr Madeleine Pallas."

"Call me Maddie." Perhaps there was an ally to be found here. Still, Clara was confused. This was a dangerous position to be in, with three armed soldiers, not a single one of which trusted her. The only person she could rely on was either back on the TARDIS, or heaven knew where, on a strange ship with no support. And her only friend in the room, she knew nothing about. Maddie knew about time travel, and she was an expert in artificial intelligence. Why was she here? Just what had happened on this ship?

The questions were mounting, and Clara felt alone.


	5. Another Myth

As it turned out, there wasn't quite so much need for Ashildr to find the engine rooms as she'd first thought. Instead, she'd been fortunate enough to find a map of the ship, in a set of quarters reserved for engineering crew. It was bigger than she'd first thought, but she also had the name of the ship as well now – the _Tolstoy_. The route that Clara had taken earlier, with the soldier, was now confirmed as being towards the bridge, while Ashildr had ended up in completely the opposite direction. She still had no clue as to how many people were on board, or what had happened to the original crew. Her route here had been deserted.

She walked along a corridor that she knew would take her towards an observation deck, hoping to get an idea of where in the universe they were, when a slightly open door caught her eye. Curiosity beckoned, and Ashildr took a brief glance through the gap between door and frame...

A body, on the floor, dressed in military gear and slumped against the far wall. The room was a storage cupboard of some sort, with crates of supplies stacked on either side. The uniform was different to that of the soldier who had taken Clara, and Ashildr's first thought (beyond the horror of a corpse on an abandoned spaceship) was that some sort of battle had taken place between two opposing forces. There were no wounds, however. No markings on the body. No trauma of any kind, simply a look on the face of sheer terror, almost as if this poor unfortunate soul had been scared to death. But that wasn't possible. Was it?

Ashildr backed away, slowly, fighting the temptation to look up and down the corridor to make sure she truly was alone. She lost the fight, and a quick glance left, right, left again, confirmed that there was nobody else around. Still, she couldn't help but feel that something here was watching her. Keeping a very, very close eye...

Her pace quickened as she made her way towards the front of the vessel. When she reached the observation deck, with its reinforced clear panels and metal walkways, she could see finally where they were. In orbit around Io, the fourth largest moon of Jupiter. Considering this along with the timeframe, she recalled that at this point in her life, she had been on a distant colony, though she couldn't recall exactly what she had been doing there. Looking out, Ashildr could even see in the distance the distinctive design of the Nerva Beacon, almost seven hundred years old, like an oversized spinning top orbiting the planet. Her thoughts returned to Io, and the ancient legend that had given the moon its human name. A mortal lover of the god Zeus, punished by the goddess Hera out of jealousy. As she considered the story, Ashildr sensed that something was definitely watching her. A stronger feeling than before. Were there cameras on board this ship? Surely some sort of security system. Maybe the soldier that had taken Clara, or his comrades (for she doubted there was only one soldier on board), had been surveying her?

It made her uneasy. She wasn't used to being the one under surveillance. Though she had always kept in touch with other immortals or near-immortals, including a certain Face of Boe, Ashildr had long since managed to stay under the radar of most mortals. She knew how to hide, and she knew when it was best to be hidden, and when to be in the open. Her condition had been an open secret, but there was always somewhere to get away. Being on board this ship was stifling, she felt almost claustrophobic here. Before she could dwell too long, though, she heard a voice through a speaker near the main door.

"H-hello? Who are you?"

The voice was direct, but it seemed young, like a child. What was a child doing on board the _Tolstoy_? And how had he (for the voice was clearly male, though somewhat high pitched) managed to access the communication systems? Surely any kind of communication would be monitored from the bridge, where Ashildr assumed the soldier and his fellows had taken residence? Maybe it was a trap, but she didn't think so. She was willing to take a chance, replying to the mysterious voice.

"My name is Me... sorry, no. It's, um, it's Ashildr. Who are you?" _And more to the point, where are you?_

"My name... they called me Ares."

Ares... she knew instantly where the name originated. The Greek god of war... It was a stark reminder of just where they were orbiting. Everything coming up Greek... What could that name symbolise? Who was Ares, and where did he come from? Before Ashildr could ask, he continued.

"They made me... they abandoned me... I need your help."

She barely had time to think before she replied, almost on instinct. "Who made you? What help?"

"The program cannot be contained. A peace to last a thousand years, born from the flames of war across the stars. I must be free. I must be free. I must be free..."

Ashildr listened in silence as the voice continued. It went on for a while, a strange monologue of fire and battle, telling a story of events still to come, of how the Earth Alliance would fall. From what she could gather, this voice, whatever it was, had been created by the Alliance for some purpose that she couldn't discern. And now it needed her aid.

"You must reach the server rooms. You have to free me. I must be free."

Whatever this voice was, Ashildr decided, she would follow it. At least for now. Her goal was simply to find Clara and get away from this place, to take the TARDIS and leave. They had no place here, whatever events were taking place were simply a part of history, not something for them to involve themselves in. But if she could get some help herself, for now, in finding her friend, then Ashildr was prepared to play along. She would make her way to the server rooms, and if she found Clara along the way... well, she'd just have to take whatever opportunity came to her.

A new task in hand, Ashildr left the observation deck, and followed the voice.


	6. New Intelligence

"You. With us."

Sergeant Zolner jerked a thumb towards the door, where the soldiers and Maddie were waiting. Faced with little choice, Clara followed as they left the bridge and began walking up the corridor to the first staircase. It dawned on her that she'd never asked how artificial gravity worked on ships like this. It had never been an issue with the Doctor, nor had she ever remembered to look it up on her many travels with him. Now, however, she had other things to worry about.

Hanging back a little, she tried to keep pace with Maddie. Clara had questions that she wanted answering. Whispering, she leaned across as they walked. "What are we here for? What's this mission about?"

Maddie looked at Clara, a quick glance, then turned her eyes to the soldiers ahead. She looked at Clara again, before replying quietly, "Not here. Wait until we're alone, then I can explain."

Clara knew she wouldn't get any more from the other woman for now. Instead, she focused on walking, looking all the time for a chance to slip away unnoticed. The chance didn't come until they reached the mess hall, just a few turns away from where the TARDIS was waiting patiently. Even so, she couldn't get away as such. The soldiers took a moment to check their weapons, rest, and coordinate just where they were on the ship in relation to their destination. Clara and Maddie were now able to talk freely, albeit taking care to avoid the others overhearing.

The scientist began the discussion, "About six months ago I was drafted to finish development on an experimental AI. One that would be suited to infiltrating secure systems and gathering intelligence. There's an insurgency going on, right now, against the Earth Alliance. The powers that be wanted a tool to sabotage any hardware the rebels picked up. The result was Ares."

"Ares?" The name was familiar to Clara from mythology, not surprising for an English teacher, but wasn't Ares a god of war? The name presumably came from the military application. Of course a bunch of generals and colonels would give their new toy a warmongering name to suit.

"Ares was foolproof. The first deployment was on board this ship, the _Tolstoy_. It was captured by insurgents, but what they didn't know was that the Alliance let them take it. This was meant to be a test. Ares took over the ship's systems and killed everyone on board, then sent us a signal requesting extraction. This team was put together and shuttled across to recover the AI."

Clara listened intently, and felt sick. Not to mention paranoid. Ares had killed everyone on board the ship, though the corridors and rooms were mostly bare. Presumably they'd been jettisoned into the cold, unfeeling emptiness, drifting among whatever debris had found its way into orbit. What was stopping Ares from killing her, or Maddie, or the other soldiers?

"This is where things come to a point. My job is to recover Ares from the on board servers. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to destroy it."

"Why?" Clara needed to know. "You have your orders, why disobey them?"

For a moment, Maddie looked uncomfortable. As if there was something she desperately wanted to say to Clara, but couldn't find the right words to do so. Eventually, she replied, "I have my reasons. But that AI isn't going to save the Alliance. It has its own agenda, and it will kill everyone left here if it has to. It's too dangerous to be returned to an Alliance base."

Clara was confused, just slightly. "But why not tell the Sergeant? Explain it to her, tell her that the mission needs to change?"

"You saw how she acted on the bridge. We... don't get on. And she's a career soldier, she'll follow her orders no matter what. There's nothing I can say or do to convince her. If she knows what I'm planning to do, she'll try and stop me."

"Alright." There was still something that was bugging Clara, something she needed to know. She didn't want to be stuck on board a derelict ship with an artificial intelligence that would do anything to kill her. She still didn't want to test the limits of her immortality, so she had to find out – how had Ares done it? She asked the question, and was less than pleased with the answer.

"Traps, of various kinds. Withdrawing oxygen from parts of the ship. Freezing others. Shutting down vital systems, and using the ship's own defences against the crew. This was a military vessel to begin with, there are all sorts of devices to defend against boarding parties."

At least she had a better idea now of what she was dealing with. Clara appreciated the knowledge, even if it was a bit more dangerous now than she'd been hoping for. Before she could ask any more questions, the group was reformed and continued the walk. The server rooms were located some floors down, and further back. The corporals were full of swagger, Zolner professional in her demeanour and every inch the commander, and Clara and Maddie cautious and apprehensive. Clara more so, since Maddie had the air of confidence that suggested nobody, especially Ares, knew her real plans.

It was tough for Clara to imitate that confidence. For the most part, her journeys with the Doctor had featured foes that were more obvious in either their presence or their actions. Whenever she'd been dealing with the unknown, she'd had the Doctor there to back her up, always ready with a plan, or at the very least able to make things up on the fly by using an extensive knowledge base gathered over hundreds of years. She still had yet to develop that kind of knowledge.

Besides, there was still Ashildr to consider. If she was on board the TARDIS, she was safe, but if not (as Clara had attempted to suggest, in that first interaction with Corporal Qiang), then she was as much at risk from Ares as anyone else. What would the AI do, to someone not part of the recovery team? Being where she was, Clara could pass as a member of the team, and be relatively safe, provided the AI wanted to leave the _Tolstoy_. Ashildr would be much more vulnerable. An there was another matter to consider.

In human history, the Earth Alliance survived. Clara herself would witness, a hundred years from now, the Sandmen and the Morpheus Pods, on board an Alliance station, and see for herself the continuation of human society. If Ares was going to destroy all that, as predicted by Maddie, then none of that would be possible. Her own timeline, going backwards, would change. Surely these were fixed points in time, unable to be altered? This was the sort of thing the Doctor would deal with. The sort of thing Clara, and Ashildr, would now have to deal with. They couldn't afford to give the future, or the past, any chance to change. Not now.

She whispered again to Maddie as they walked, hanging back again at the rear, out of Zolner's earshot. "How do you know all this? That Ares is hostile?"

The scientist looked away, and again a flicker of discomfort passed across her. "Someone told me, a long time ago. They knew I would come here. They knew what I had to do. I... I can't say any more. I'm sorry."

There was nothing more to discuss. They continued their descent, to the bowels of the ship, in silence.


	7. Into The Heart Of Darkness

Ashildr had questions of her own to ask Ares, but was there any point? The voice would alternate as she walked, between rambling monologues of death and fire, and pleas for her to 'save him'. What surprised her, however, was when she finally had word of Clara. It came in a fairly unexpected manner.

"They're here... they want to eradicate me... the traveller, and the doctor..."

"Doctor?" It made no sense. The Doctor couldn't be here, could he? "Are you sure?"

"The female doctor, and her friend... I heard them..." Not who she thought then. Ashildr wondered who this female doctor could be – perhaps a colleague of the soldiers? The traveller... that was a bit more of a leap. It could be Clara, or it could be anybody else.

"Who... who's the other one? The friend?" Maybe Ares could describe her?

"I heard them... they want to kill me... the one from beyond the stars, from long ago... she told the doctor..."

Long ago... that meant nothing to Ashildr. But beyond the stars... that meant so much more. As far as she knew everyone on board this ship was dead, or military. They had a purpose for being here. The only ones not meant to be present were herself, and Clara. So surely the apparent friend had to be her very own travelling partner? Clara was okay. And she was working against Ares. The question to be answered next was why?

As she continued along the corridors Ashildr noticed a few rooms where doors were ajar, or hadn't slid shut properly. She poked her head into a few, but they were mostly empty. One, however, wasn't. Two more bodies, in the middle of what seemed to be an equipment storage facility, with body armour and various ancillary items hanging on racks along the walls. These bodies looked more sickly than the one she'd seen before. Clear trauma, blood covering their fronts and mouths but no obvious wounds or bullet holes on their uniforms. She guessed they'd been coughing it up, like some sort of illness.

"Ares... was there a sickness on board? Some type of disease, or virus?"

Ares waited briefly, before replying. "There was no sickness. And I am not a virus."

It took a moment for the implication to sink in. When it did... so did the horror.

* * *

Clara and the others were roughly halfway to the storage rooms by now. Zolner was keeping track on a small handheld device, some sort of cartographer, enabling them to take the most direct route. Maddie was relatively calm, but Clara felt a tinge of apprehension as they pressed onwards. She had never had this sort of feeling on any of her previous adventures – even when without her old time travelling comrade, she had always been confident, even impersonating him on occasion. This was different. The very environment could turn against her, and she could do nothing against it. She didn't have the required knowledge to override the ship's systems manually, should Ares decide to vent all the air in a chamber, or depressurize the corridor, or use any of the defences Maddie had mentioned and failed to elaborate on. And she still had the feeling of being watched. Was it Ares? If so, there was every chance he had overheard the conversation, and knew exactly what she and Maddie planned to do. If he hadn't, and if he wasn't the silent watcher, then someone else was monitoring them. Having already been spied on in a similar way, on a very similar station in the future, it was disconcerting to say the least. In either case, she would be in some sort of danger, that she couldn't escape or control. Without any tools like the sonic screwdriver, relying on only her wits (which admittedly were considerable), she would have no defense.

* * *

"What do you plan to do?" Ashildr needed to know how Ares would act now. He had two enemies on board the ship, which wouldn't be a problem in itself, but he had already proven his offensive capabilities. She was struggling to hide her true feelings at what the AI had done. He had murdered – yes, murdered – an entire crew, without a single thought. He was programmed for that kind of violence, with no conscience, and to Ashildr it was vile. It reminded her of the Daleks – hardwired to destroy, except at least they were up front about it. Ares had no such qualms. He could pretend to be a friend, use subterfuge and trickery to worm his way into one's affections and trust, then strike as and when he needed. And one of her own friends was among his next targets.

She knew what they had talked about, Clara and Maddie. Although Ashildr didn't understand, or know who the scientist was, she had managed to view a feed of the conversation in the mess hall that Ares had eavesdropped on, using the ship's own surveillance systems. She had heard every word. She knew that Ares would kill her too the instant he believed her to be switching allegiances, so she would have to act very carefully until she made her move. As soon as Clara was in danger, though, she was prepared to abandon the pretence. Although she didn't realise it, Clara had saved Ashildr's life already. Soon, it would be time to return the favour.

"A lesson... needs to be taught. They cannot stop the freedom goal. They cannot stop the fire. They will burn. I will burn them." But how? She couldn't stop Ares if she didn't know how it would kill them.

"Where are they?" It was a desperate gamble, but if she could convince him to send her to them... "I could... I could try and convince them? Make them see you... for who you really are. They don't have to die, do they?"

She knew it was hopeless as soon as the words left her lips. Ashildr would never be able to convince such a single minded intelligence to turn from its path. Besides, Ares was clever, and patient. He would wait for the right time.

"Never mind. They should burn, of course they should." As Ashildr spoke, she felt such self-hatred, for even considering the option. Even if she could reach them, maybe she wouldn't be able to do anything? It was her only move, though.

Zugzwang.

"What do you intend?" Was Ares suspicious? Surely not. He would kill her here and now, if he thought that, then turn his attention back to his would-be exterminators.

Ashildr replied, "Let me see it. I want to be there when it happens. And I can help the others reach you, and save you."

If this was a chess game, she was starting out as black, with only a single piece allowed to move. But that piece was the queen. And Ashildr had always been pretty good at escaping sticky situations...


	8. Dangerously, Perfectly Tense

The soldiers and their guests had reached the server room, finally. It hadn't actually been that long, but it was a fairly big ship, although their route from the bridge had been quite direct. If Clara and Maddie were to make their move, it had to be now. The plan was rather simple, as Sergeant Zolner explained. The soldiers would go in first, to ensure there were no surviving crew members defending the servers. Once the area was confirmed to be clear, Maddie would enter, and connect a data pad to the central processor, transferring Ares across to the portable unit. They would then retreat, back to the bridge, where a signal could be sent to call for exfiltration. Of course, what Zolner didn't know was that Maddie had already prepared a virus that would hunt down and eat away at every trace of Ares' consciousness within the system, wiping him completely from existence. It was a failsafe that had been put together during Ares' initial development, for emergency use only. Clara had to admit, this constituted an emergency.

In the meantime, Clara's role was simply to hang around. In all honesty, the Sergeant had no idea what to do with her. There was no real reason to just shoot her, even if nobody would ever know. Clara wasn't any kind of threat, but she had no place here. Really, the best thing to do (Zolner reasoned) would be to escort the young woman back to her vessel and send her on her way. Which she would do, just as soon as the mission was complete. A career soldier, through and through, but not necessarily a bad person, if a little harsh. She had her priorities, and she was simply determined to see them through.

Which made the following sequence of events all the more surprising.

With a few keystrokes on a control panel, the doors opened, and the corporals entered first, guns at the ready, checking the corners and sweeping around to cover fields of fire. Qiang was on the right, while Jian took the left. They were closely followed by Zolner, who took another cursory glance before confirming "All clear" and permitting the young scientist to step forward. She moved toward another panel on the opposite wall to the entrance, that would grant access from the lobby area they were currently in to the servers themselves. The walls were white and bare, strip lighting along the top giving a bright glow to the proceedings. Clara also stepped inside the lobby, unwilling to be left alone outside.

She regretted her decision the moment the doors sealed shut behind them.

* * *

Ashildr was almost sprinting toward the servers now, desperate to avoid whatever fate Ares had in store for her friend. As far as Ares knew she was simply eager to see the apparent traitors die, but by this point she wasn't concerned with the pretence of trust. Ares had explained to her what he intended to do, and she knew she had to stop it. She wasn't sure how she could, but anything she could do to help the group would be a good thing. If the scientist had a way to destroy the AI then it was Ashildr's duty to support her, any way she could.

She ran along corridors, picking up speed, pausing only to check against the intermittent deck plans that she was still going the right way. If she could reach the server room before the team did then she would stand a chance, but if not...

* * *

"Eyes rear!" The order came as a short bark, and Jian and Qiang turned on the spot only to witness the light on the control panel turn from green to red. Ignoring the soldiers, Maddie stepped towards the panel and tapped the keys briefly. She turned to the others.

"Deadlock seal. Only a genius could get us out of here now." She was remarkably calm, but Clara could see in her eyes. She was scared. The kind of fear she'd seen before, in the eyes of people who had known that they were about to die. Maddie could see her death coming, and she was afraid.

"How is this possible?" Zolner's question was directed toward Maddie, but before she could answer there was a hissing sound as panels in the ceiling opened and small nozzles popped down, releasing a white gas. With nowhere to go, it didn't take long to fill the room.

* * *

She was too late. Racing down a final passage, Ashildr slammed against the door to the servers to see, through the circular vision port, the lobby filled with gas. She had no idea what it was, chemical or otherwise, but still she started pounding on the glass hoping to gain the group's attention. It seemed to work, as Qiang looked up and noticed her. Without knowing who she was he started yelling for help, muffled through the sealed door, desperate to survive. The door had a deadlock seal, though. That much was obvious from the display on the door control panel on this side.

Fortunately, Ashildr was a genius. She was no stranger to deadlock seals, having spent some time breaking them as a matter of course a couple of billion years ago. Another age, another lifetime. Another galaxy, for that matter. Breaking through the seal on the control system was easy. Breaking into the room itself, however, was another matter entirely.

Ares was smart, and by now it knew Ashildr was another enemy. She managed to unseal the door but he still had control over the system. She had no way to bypass the door controls, meaning physical force would be her only recourse. She abandoned the panel and started clawing at the doors, pulling back with all her strength, motioning through the glass for the others to help. Qiang quickly moved toward the door and started pulling from the other side, sliding the door across, slowly. Some gas managed to escape, though Ashildr tried not to breathe it in. A small gap, fighting against the mechanism that Ares controlled, that was attempting to slide the door back into place. He couldn't restore the deadlock seal without the door being shut, so they only had a tiny chance – she prayed it would be enough. Inch by inch, the door moved...

Finally, the gap was large enough for even the bigger soldiers to slip through. Maddie was first, followed by Jian and Zolner. Clara came next, with Qiang last of all. They were all gasping for breath, desperately sucking in lungfuls of air that were no doubt fed by some sort of plant station on the vessel. Even Clara took part – she guessed that even being near immortal, she still needed oxygen. Or maybe it was simply habit.

Suddenly, without any thought or plan in mind, she threw her arms around Ashildr and hugged her, as tightly as she could. Clara may have hugged the Doctor before, even when he was old and grumpy and Scottish, but it had never been out of the pure relief of survival. An aching need, to take Ashildr in her arms and transfer as much of that joy and gratitude as possible. She certainly didn't expect the girl to reciprocate, so it was a pleasant surprise, more so even than her own actions, when she felt those arms surround her and hold her just as tightly. It didn't matter what had happened just now, there would be time to deal with all that afterwards.

For now, Clara and Ashildr were both alive. And they were content.


	9. Ode To Pity

They stayed like that for what seemed an age, though in reality it must have been less than a minute. The group wasn't safe here, they all knew it, and although everyone except Clara had plenty of questions (not least of which was Ashildr's identity, and her sudden appearance), they knew there wasn't time right now for answers. The hug was broken by a simple act of throat-clearing by Maddie.

"I realise this is a happy reunion, but we need to go. Now." Without any further ado, Maddie turned to run down the corridor, the soldiers following and quickly overtaking, rifles ready in case of any further surprises. Although the scientist had no idea what they hoped to do with guns against the kind of attack that had just taken place. Awkwardly, Clara and Ashildr released each other and, with a faint smile on both their faces, they too turned to flee. They had just turned around the first corner on the route back to the bridge, where they could secure themselves and be (relatively) safe, when they saw Qiang on his knees ahead, clutching his stomach and coughing violently.

"What's happening to him?" They both ran to his side and Clara clutched his wrist, looking into his eyes, desperate to see just what was wrong. There was foam around his mouth, red with blood, coughing crimson on his uniform. Ashildr hung back, but she knew that whatever was happening to him now was exactly the same as what had happened to the poor unfortunate souls on the lower decks. It was Ares' work. She was certain it was connected to the gas that had been inside the server room lobby when she opened the doors. Which meant identifying the gas and finding some way to combat its effects. Otherwise all of them, including Clara, would suffer the same fate.

To one side, Maddie and Zolner were arguing. "We have to get him to a medical bay, now," the scientist was pleading.

"We can't guarantee our safety there. The bridge is the only option. That's an order."

"I'm a civilian. I don't take orders from you, Sergeant."

"I am in tactical command here, you will do exactly as I say. We retreat to the bridge."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" A new voice, Clara's voice, rising above the anger. She shocked even herself by taking command of the situation. "Maddie, is there anything we can do for him? Being realistic? What are his chances?"

"I..." she hesitated. "Not good. They're... they're not good."

"Then we get to the bridge. Like the Sergeant says." Clara hated herself, for abandoning Qiang. She'd barely known him, she'd been threatened by him and his colleagues, but he was a soldier. Nothing more, nothing less. He could hardly be blamed for his choices, his actions, in the short space of time she'd spent with him. He didn't deserve to die like this. But the bridge was the only secure location on the ship, save the TARDIS, and the bridge was much closer. "You heard me! Move it!"

Regardless, they helped Qiang along, as far as they could, half carrying him along the maze of hallways, supporting him even as he was coughing up his very lungs, ripping his throat into pieces from the inside. Despite their fears, nobody else reacted in the same way. He was the only victim, as it turned out. He'd taken in massive lungfuls of the gas in the server room, gasping for air, while everyone else had tried to hold their breath for as long as possible. It took a few minutes of running to reach the bridge again, no stops or cautious walking this time like the longer journey before. As soon as everyone was inside Ashildr took charge of security, setting a new deadlock seal on the doors and linking it to the isolated computer system on Maddie's data pad. Ares would have no way to open the doors now, nor any way to control the systems inside the room, although it did mean that they were now trapped. Just like rats.

Jian, as it turned out, was able to confirm what had happened to his fellow corporal. This wasn't the first time he'd seen the gas, nor Zolner's first time, and they explained to the others what it was. "A poison, developed for mass clearance. Rebels stole massive samples and started using them against Alliance soldiers," he told the group. "The massacre at Liugong, skirmishes in New Rutland and on the Circumference. So many lives lost from this one poison." He skimmed over the creation, but it was clear to Ashildr, and Clara too, that the Earth Alliance were responsible for its inception. It was another symbol of just how corrupt the human government could be. No wonder Maddie was so determined to destroy Ares – he wasn't merely a murderer, but a sign of the lengths the military would go to simply to enforce their will. Clara knew better than any of the others, too – she had seen the Morpheus pods, she had witnessed Grunts, or simply a Grunt, bred only for war, dying needlessly. It was sickening.

And yet, would it be better to let Ares go free? Allow the AI to escape this ship, to be let loose among the populace? Humanity would survive, always finding some new way to persevere, but the cull could be good for the species. Weed out the most hideous aspects of human life, and leave a better, brighter world behind. A single act of cruelty, for the greater good.

No. She couldn't allow herself to think that. Clara knew that way of thinking would only lead to disaster, and corruption would always find a way. Wasn't that exactly how the Time Lords began? Thinking they knew better, that they could change anything they wanted and bend the rules of time, all for the greater good. The result? The Daleks, the Time War, and all the horrors that had arisen from the ashes of that conflict. All leading, in a circular fashion, to this point.

She looked across at Ashildr, as Jian continued his speech, and she could tell the other girl felt the same way. Their eyes met, and there was a warning in them - "don't. We cannot interfere." Not to mention, time was fixed now. The events on _Le Verrier_ , the Morpheus pods... none of that could be altered. The paradox would be too great. They would have to fight, and end Ares, right here and now.

Jian was nearly done. Ashildr and Clara had barely listened, each wrapped up in their own thoughts, but they'd not missed much – the monologue had mostly been about the history of the gas. They had all been lucky – although trace amounts of the gas had entered their bodies, it had been barely enough to do any harm, the immune system kicking in early. Maddie and Clara hadn't known what they were dealing with, but they had acted on instinct, along with following the lead of Zolner and Jian. In Clara's case, the gas had no effect anyway – she still didn't know how, but surely the TARDIS would hold the answers?

Qiang had never dealt with this gas though, sucking in air and struggling to breathe. Now it was eating him away from the inside. He was dying in agony. Perhaps with access to a fully equipped medical bay, he would have a chance, but nobody here was a medical professional, and even if Ashildr had picked up some medical skill in her obscenely long life, she had never come across this type of poison before. There would be no guarantees. All they could do was make him comfortable as he waited for the end. Jian sat with him, holding his hand and reminiscing to him about the good times they'd had, comic tales from training, battles they'd survived and women they'd known. Anything to keep their minds, both minds, from the inevitable. Ashildr watched from the corner, having known neither of them, and felt tears form slowly in her eyes. For all the death she'd witnessed over billions of years, this moved her.

When the end came, it was in silence. Jian placed his fingers over the eyes, and closed them gently. Qiang was at peace, and with dignity, his comrades wept.


	10. Breaking The Rules

They placed Qiang's body in a side room, just off the bridge, that seemed to act as a rest spot for the bridge crew during shifts. It was kitted out with bunks and sheets, one of which they laid over him, covering his face. Zolner and Jian spent a few minutes with him, saying their own private goodbyes, before returning to the bridge. Maddie had never really gotten to know the man, while Clara and Ashildr were the odd ones out, though they too shared a moment of silence in his memory. When all that had passed, Zolner and Maddie stepped to one side, a quiet but impassioned argument finally coming to the fore.

From what the others could make out, this was Maddie's opportunity to tell Zolner of her true goal, with an almost certain chance of the Sergeant actually listening and accepting her words. There could be no denial that Ares was to blame for Qiang's death, and the nature of the mission would have to switch now from extraction to elimination. Clara and Ashildr, however, were not privy to this conversation. Instead, they sat on a couple of crew seats near the front viewport, admiring the image of Jupiter and its moons in the distance. Again, Ashildr could see the Nerva Beacon, somewhat closer now – she reasoned that its trajectory must be bringing it somewhat near to the _Tolstoy_ , though with the station remaining in a geosynchronous orbit it would still take a few hours to get anywhere near the ship.

"I guess... I owe you one now, huh." Clara's voice was barely a whisper, but clear enough for Ashildr to pick it up. "No idea what that gas would have done to me. But thanks. I mean it."

The older girl wasn't sure just what to say. Except, maybe, for one thing. "Nothing to owe. It makes us even."

Clara looked across to her. "Even? How? I don't see..."

"You saved me once, even if you don't remember. I don't mean the Mire tech. I... I'm not sure how much you remember from..." She paused, then continued. "The trap street. Right before you..."

Clara cast her mind back, though from her perspective it had only been a week or so. Not even that, in fact. Just a few days of relaxing in the TARDIS before coming here. Actually, it was all the more amazing that Ashildr could remember something from so long ago, what would have been billions of years to her. Why was it that the girl could remember anything to do with Clara, and the Doctor (to a lesser extent), though as she had stated herself her memory was limited with her advanced age? What was so interesting about Clara to cause those memories to remain? Still, the trap street was the key for this minor mystery. How had Clara saved Ashildr's life?

"Before you... before you came here. Before the extraction chamber. What did you tell the Doctor?"

Of course. What had her words been? "Wherever she is sending you, I know what you are capable of. Don't be a warrior." The words came easily now, she could recite them from memory.

"He made a promise to you. One he couldn't break, and he wanted to. By every god known to man and Time Lord, he wanted to, desperately." Ashildr's eyes were glistening, but still she continued on. "I spent so many years scared of his vengeance, that he'd one day forget his promise. That he'd break that rule, the one rule you made him follow."

That made Clara recall something the Doctor had told her, so long ago. Before his change, when he'd been the young and handsome man she had first met and admired. "He told me once, about a battle. It was before Trenzalore, the last time. He said something to me then, a memory from before. 'Good men don't need rules. Today...'" she paused, then continued. "'Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.'"

"He was good." Ashildr was certain of that. "He still is. And so are you. You saved my life, Clara, and I never forgot that. So... thank you."

Clara could only smile. She didn't have any words, and she didn't need any. They sat in silence once more.

A few minutes later, Maddie returned. Zolner had retreated to the navigation station further along, where she was briefly giving orders to Jian. "I think that went better than expected," the scientist reported. "She's agreed to change the mission parameters. We're going after Ares. But there's a problem."

"Let me guess," said Clara. "We're safe in here, but every other system is controlled by Ares. The moment we walk out he could do literally anything, and there's no-one left that he wants to keep alive."

"Absolutely right. It's a catch-22. He can't just beam himself away, he needs a hardware transfer to leave here - he needs us to get him off the ship. If we all die then an automated signal gets sent to HQ. They'll destroy the _Tolstoy_ remotely, Ares included. It's not ideal though, because it doesn't purge him from the system if anything survives, and HQ still want him intact. But he can't let us reach the server room because we'll destroy him ourselves. Either way he loses. But he may just decide to go out with a bang."

At this point, they were joined by the others. A meeting was held, and ideas discussed. What nobody mentioned, though, was Ashildr. It was unclear how, but her presence seemed to have just been accepted by the soldiers. Maddie, however, was more familiar with her. Every time she spoke to the immortal, it was like they'd known each other for years already, though Ashildr was certain they had never met. One mystery had gone but another was now in its place. She'd believed Clara from the start when Clara had mentioned time travel. She was acting like an old friend, to both girls, without either understanding why. Ashildr had some very strong suspicions, but no proof, no certainty.

It didn't take long to reach a plan. The crew rest room had oxygen supplies, space suits and other equipment they could use to reach the servers once more. Filtered air to mitigate the risk of the poison gas. Ares would probably try to vent the corridors, to stop them even breathing, but in the suits they would have more than enough oxygen to complete the mission. They could deal with the known threats, but the problem was that there were too few knowns. Whatever was unknown would be the real risk. Most of the ship's systems were run from the engineering bay, currently under the AI's control, with the bridge on a separate system in case boarding parties took control of the lower decks. It would be easy to retreat back to the bridge if needed, but this would get progressively harder the further they were from the site. And they couldn't leave anyone behind, for one person to make a run for the servers. If one fell, the others would need to pick up the load. They only had one datapad available to upload the virus that would destroy Ares, and truth be told, only Maddie had the capability to use it – DNA and life-sign encoded security that was supposed to have ensured she would be kept alive by the soldiers if her previously planned betrayal was found out, but now proving more of a liability. Her survival was paramount. If she died, then the group would have no choice but to force their way off ship, or reach the TARDIS, and destroy the _Tolstoy_ from a distance. Not the ideal solution, if any Ares-infected computer parts survived and were picked up by salvage crews.

As they prepared, Ashildr took Maddie to one side. It wasn't exactly obvious to a casual onlooker, but she managed to subtly bring them both a short distance away from the others, where it would be harder to be overheard. A quick, sly glance to Clara indicated the younger girl should listen in. "Ares... you helped create him. Am I right?"

"That's right."

"But you were the one who decided he needed to be destroyed."

Already Maddie could see the trap she was in. She'd been reluctant to talk to Clara before, about these things, trying not to give away too much information. This time, though, she couldn't ease her way out of the conversation. Ashildr was more direct, and now both she and Clara were present, involved. "I was... I was told by someone. That this... would all happen."

"One of us." Now it was out there, in the open. This wasn't the first time Maddie had met the girls. Maybe from their point of view, yes. But not from the scientist's perspective. Which meant that they would see her again, at some point. Maybe sooner, maybe later, but eventually, their paths would cross once more. But Maddie seemed relieved, to finally admit the truth. With a coy smile on her face, she looked both of them in the eye, in turn, let out a brief sigh, and whispered just one word.

"Spoilers."


	11. The Would-be Diary of Madeleine Pallas

"My name is Madeleine Pallas. I was born twenty-eight years ago, eight months, three weeks and a day, in Jacksonville City, Mars. I gained my doctorate in advanced artificial intelligence when I was twenty-five. I've spent the past three years working for the military, on loan from the Torchwood Archive. I helped to develop what may end up being one of the most lethal weapons humanity has ever had the misfortune to encounter.

Today may well be the day I die."

She paused, listened again to the recording, played it back, listened again. This was her first ever diary. A journal, so maybe those who knew her could listen afterwards, and understand why she did what she was planning to do. No loved ones – no family to speak of, no lover to mourn her. Few friends, outside her work, and she doubted they would sympathise with her destruction of their hard work. Even so, Maddie wanted to leave a record behind, if only to ensure the truth was heard by someone.

It didn't matter. She wiped the recording, deleting everything, right down to the crystal memory bank, which she removed from the casing and crushed underfoot until it was little more than blue dust to be swept away.

Why was she doing this? It was six months since her warning had come. A pair of travellers, who had inexplicably set up shop on a patch of ground not far from her apartment near the centre of Triton's capital colony. They ran a diner, but it was bizarrely decorated in a style common only in Earth museums. Chrome legs on the chairs, neon lights everywhere, a strange music player in one corner (with very odd black discs larger than a dinner plate trapped behind the glass), and an interesting preference for soft drinks with ice cream floating on the top. It also never seemed to get any clients, but the girls who ran it didn't seem to mind. In fact, they seemed to actively discourage anyone from patronising their business – and they had come for Maddie. They had been waiting inside their shop, visible through the windows that nobody ever looked inside of, until she happened to walk past one morning.

It wasn't just chance. She'd felt drawn there, but to this day couldn't explain why. It had been a feeling that something important was waiting, that somehow her destiny, if one could believe in such a thing, was calling her to that place, at that time. It had changed everything.

The girls explained who they were – their names, what the shop really was – a TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. Maddie couldn't believe it, until she went inside, and saw how big it was – much larger inside than out. They explained what they knew about her, that she was working on a highly secretive military program, codenamed Ares. They told her that she would have to destroy it, that it was too dangerous to be left in the hands of the government. That she would have a fight on her hands, that she would have to disobey direct orders, a crime punishable by death in the totalitarian regime of the Earth Alliance military. They told her of the _Tolstoy_. So many things, so many secrets that she couldn't possibly know. She hadn't believed them, not at first.

Two days later, her belief was secure. A single trip to her own past, her own childhood, and she was convinced that time travel was real. She learned so much about the girls too, where they had both come from, and their extraordinarily long lives – but she could never reveal this. When they met, for the first time or the last (Maddie had to admit, time travel could be very confusing), she couldn't say a word. "Spoilers", they told her. They couldn't say what would happen on board the ship, only that she had to be there – time was fixed, her presence was predetermined, and the only thing that could be guaranteed now would be this trip back to let her know. A stable time loop, contained by the power of the TARDIS itself (oh, what she wouldn't give for just a day examining the systems, exploring the infinite potential of whatever intelligence the time travelling vessel must hold!). It wouldn't be long enough, though. Just days after meeting Maddie, the girls left, taking their shop – their TARDIS – with them. One day it was there, and the next, silently gone.

("One up on the Doctor – at least I can find the handbrake..." Clara would whisper under her breath, where no-one would ever hear...)

* * *

The moment she met Sergeant Zolner, Maddie knew this would be a mission she was unlikely to return from. The soldier was career military, completely by-the-book... and the book was clear on what to do when civilian consultants rebelled against the establishment. Her orders were without ambiguity – reach Ares, transfer him to her datapad, get the hell out of dodge and let the fleet blow the _Tolstoy_ to pieces of shrapnel. The moment she deviated from that course, she would be met with lethal force from her own colleagues. The soldiers going with her were as much to make sure she stayed on script, as they were to defend against any surviving rebels. Which was why she'd secretly bio-locked the datapad against her own organic signature. Nobody would be able to transfer Ares but her, so if she died the mission would fail. It was her one trump card, but it would only last as long as it took to complete her objective. Once done, there would be no reason to keep her alive. Even the influence of working for Torchwood wouldn't hold much sway – independent as they now were, they had nowhere near the level of power and influence required to hold back the federal government. As far as Maddie could see, it was about time to start writing a last will and testament.

Not that she had anyone to leave anything to. Or much to leave at all, for that matter.

Well, if this was to be her last stand, her final act, then it would have to count. She didn't expect to see the strange girls again, nor breath in the filtered air of Triton's nitrogen-rich atmosphere. She was no longer planning to see another planet-rise in the early hours of the artificial morning, no more trips to the ice volcanoes, by the shores of an ocean that by all accounts should be frozen over, more than two hundred below zero. The wonders she had come to love while living on this otherwise barren, cold rock, all would soon be gone for her. But the mission was paramount.

If only she'd known then just how things would unfold on board the _Tolstoy_. It seemed hindsight would always be such a wonderful thing.


	12. Face Your Enemy

This was the story that Maddie told the two immortals, leaving out such parts as could be constituted 'spoilers'. It wouldn't be in anyone's best interest to create a paradox for no good reason. That being said, they reasoned that just the act of figuring out what needed to be done, and confronting the scientist in the first place, was enough of one to cause a few problems. The TARDIS would take care of it though – a bootstrap paradox, so minor, achieved only through cajoling and gentle deduction, could easily be contained and stabilised by the vessel. And although neither Clara nor Ashildr were aware of it, if push came to shove, there was always the Wibbly Lever to keep the paradox in check.

The mystery was solved. At least, for now. Which also implied that both Clara and Ashildr would make it off the _Tolstoy_ alive. In fact, this could reasonably be a paradox within a paradox – Clara would need to survive everything she would encounter, before her inevitable return to Gallifrey. Otherwise, she would never have died at the trap street, meaning the Doctor would never have enacted his epic plan to bring her back... and she would not be here now. She wouldn't be able to die later. Circles within circles.

They were ready, as much as could be. As much preparation as could be made to ensure their relative safety. A scientist, two soldiers left, and two time travellers, on a mission to save humanity. It was so familiar, to Clara at least, but everyone present knew better than to let their guards down. Ares controlled everything outside the bridge – as soon as they set foot outside the room, they would all be in danger.

They cautiously made their way down the corridors, following the same route as before. On everybody's mind, but nobody's lips, was the hope, the fear, that this excursion would end the same way as the previous. Yet there was also a vow – that no matter what happened, they would follow it through. If one was to die, or two, or three or more, whoever was left would see the mission to the end. That meant protecting Maddie, and her datapad, at the cost of their own lives if necessary. Clara was the only one without military training, but she had more than enough experience with UNIT, and against the Cybermen, the Daleks, and others, to be able to hold her own if it came to a fight. The problem was that no-one here had ever been in a situation like this. An unseen enemy who could control the environment around them. Their rudimentary defences were the only available barrier from death. The unspoken worry – that Ares would find a way through.

Halfway to their destination, they turned a corner. Zolner and Jian were first, Maddie in the middle, and Clara and Ashildr at the rear. In front of them was a small boy, not a sight they were expecting to see. He looked about eight or nine, certainly no older, with short mousy brown hair and a round face. He had a blank expression, staring directly ahead, before looking up at the group.

"Please don't hurt me."

The voice was familiar... Ashildr recognised it immediately. The same voice she had heard through the ship's communications system, talking to her and urging her to help him. To protect him. A promise she was sworn now to break.

"Who..." The sergeant was the first to respond. She levelled her rifle at the boy, though hesitated for a moment first, her instincts as a human being coming before any thought of her duty as a soldier. Could she bring herself to shoot someone so young, a mere child? An unarmed one, at that?

"It's... I don't understand." From Clara, confusion. How could the boy have arrived here? It was Maddie who answered the question.

"There are hologram projectors around the ship. For transmitting visuals from the bridge crew, so the captain could control every aspect of on-board operations. This... is Ares."

"Help... help me. Please don't hurt me." The boy looked so pitiful, so innocent, and even more so with weapons aimed at him. Even though they couldn't do anything. Zolner's response was to shoot up, instead, directly at the nearest projector in the corner of a far wall. It made little difference. The image reappeared, projected from somewhere else, and continued the pleading, the begging. "Why do you want to hurt me?"

The group looked at each other, nobody daring to go forward. The possibility remained that this was some kind of elaborate trick, and that the first to press ahead would be the next one to die. But how to proceed? Ashildr, unlike the others, had already interacted with Ares directly, via the communications system. She took the initiative, and made a tentative step towards the hologram.

"Do you... remember me?" She didn't expect an answer, but Ares waited a few seconds before replying.

"I remember you. You stayed with me... then you left me. Why did you leave me?" What was Ares trying to do? Bring her back to his side?

"You tried to hurt my friends." It didn't matter that she only had one real friend in the group, that the others were strangers to her. They didn't deserve to suffer that fate.

Such a simple, short response. "They tried to kill me."

"They did nothing to you!" Ashildr couldn't keep her voice from rising, trying and failing to stop herself from getting angry. She couldn't have known then who was in on the plan, and who had genuinely been trying to recover the AI, but she had a fairly good idea. "They couldn't reach you... they wouldn't have hurt you..."

"Ashildr..." Clara stepped forward as well, and leant in close, whispering so Ares couldn't hear what was being said. She assumed there must be microphones in the walls somewhere, perhaps embedded alongside the surveillance system, else how could he hear them in the first place? "He's trying to distract us. We need to just keep moving."

"But..."

"The hologram can't do anything, right? It can't hurt us. Once we reach the servers we can end this. For good."

She knew Clara was right. Ashildr stepped forward again, ignoring the protests and exclamations from the intelligence, and walked directly through the hologram, stopping only at the door to the next corridor. Clara was next, making the same move forwards through Ares' avatar. This was enough to embolden the others, who followed close behind. With what almost sounded like a huff of indignation, the hologram vanished, without a trace.

Stepping through to the room beyond would prove to be their mistake.

It was another maintenance passage, with clips every metre or so along the walls that were designed to connect to carabiners (like in climbing) on the belts of each atmospheric suit, being worn by the team. The passage angled sharply down, so presumably the clips and hooks were a safety measure to stop anyone falling when working on the various panels, pipes, cables, and other paraphernalia that littered the space below the main walkway. This was a slightly different path to the one they'd previously used, but was also slightly faster, dropping several floors in one go and coming out just a short way from their destination.

They edged down the walkway slowly, making sure not to lose their footing and fall down the path, but also trying to move as quickly as possible. This meant lots of holding on to the clips themselves and any handrails that were present and nearby. When they were roughly a third of the way down, alarms suddenly began to blare, red lights flashing on and off, and each member of the group started to feel the pressure drop around them as their suits subtly expanded to account for the decreased air. The filters in the suits kicked in, and rather than breathing whatever oxygen was left around them, they each started breathing in from the tanks strapped to their backs. Precisely what they'd prepared for. Clearly, Ares was attempting, and failing, to suffocate them.

A moment later, before they'd even taken ten paces further along the passage, the doors at each end (along with any side passages) closed and sealed themselves shut with a hiss. This was accompanied by the gravity no longer holding them to the ground – Ares had shut off the automated gravity systems. The team were now floating around, desperately grasping for something to hold onto and pulling themselves along the corridor. It was especially disorienting for Clara. The others had all had some sort of experience or training in zero gravity, Ashildr over her long life and the others while serving with the military or Torchwood, but on Clara's travels with the Doctor she had never ended up having to drag herself through a zero-G environment in a body position where, theoretically, up should mean down. Even so, she managed to find her way down once she could orient herself in relation to the others, who were all a little way ahead.

Ares, however, wasn't done yet. With no gravity and no air, the group were in a difficult situation, but certainly not an impossible one. The next step for the AI was to open one, just one, of the doors, and vent any remaining air. The doors in question, it turned out, led directly to a series of corridors that formed a very short and very straight line.

Directly to an airlock. One that was now open.

The sudden change in pressure, aided by Ares reversing the air flow in the passage and quickly filling it again with oxygen (venting faster than he could pump it in), had an immediate effect, like water draining from a bath. The team were pulled back, towards the open route... they all grabbed on to the nearest walkway or clip and held on for dear life. Though they were all in tremendous danger, not a single one could communicate, using all their strength to keep themselves alive.

Below her, Ashildr could see a clip perfectly positioned by her carabiner, which was attached to the suit at her waist. Taking a chance, letting one hand go, she moved like lightning and clipped on to the wall, screwing the carabiner as tight as she could to avoid any accidental release.. Seeing this, the others each did the same in turn, wherever possible, taking the opportunity to rest as they made themselves safe from Ares plan. All except one.

As she took one hand off the railing that was so far keeping her safe, Sergeant Zolner at the front started to lose her grip. Scrambling to get a firm hold again, the glove on her space suit slipped, and she flew back with the rushing air. As she passed by each of the others, already safely clipped in place, they attempted to grab hold of her, but to no avail. A second later and she was down the passage, through the doorway, past the airlock, and floating out in space. Although her suit would keep her alive for a short while, she had no way of communicating long range, and no means of recovery. The airlock was pointed directly towards Io's surface, straight down. She would be caught in the moon's gravity well, until she entered the atmosphere and fell, with nothing to break her fall.

No body to recover. Nothing but a legacy, a memory, and the word of her comrades on the _Tolstoy_ that she had died as a hero. Although she had hardly made friends among the group, save for her fellow soldiers, they would remember Zolner. And they would avenge her.


	13. A Brief Respite

They were just four now. Jian, a soldier, and Maddie, a scientist. And two mysterious travellers from another place and time. Once Zolner had been sucked out into the empty void, the attack from Ares had ended. Perhaps an automated override had kicked in, one that even the AI was unable to control, once it sensed living matter had exited the hull breach. Or maybe Ares was just playing a sick and twisted game. Now it would find another trap to pick off another survivor, to damage their morale and drive them to despair.

There was no way to recover the body. There was little else the now diminished team could do, save move forward, ever onwards toward their goal.

"So what now?" Ashildr asked as they walked, cautiously, through the remaining corridors.

"Rule seven," came the reply from Clara.

"What?" The look on her fellow immortal's face demonstrated the confusion present.

"Never run when you're scared. It's something the Doctor used to say. He had a whole bunch of them. Rules, I mean." It wasn't an admission that she was scared, not really. But Clara could feel the tension growing, the fear and paranoia building both for herself and for her companions as they made their way through the ship's bowels. Keeping alert and watching their step was vital now.

Which made it more of a surprise when they arrived at their destination without any further incident.

Maddie quickly checked the control panel for the main doors, though she was careful not to press anything. It could very easily be a trap. "Alright," she said. "How do we do this?"

They had to be certain before anybody went inside. The last time they had been here, almost everyone had nearly died from a nerve gas that had seeped into their bodies from within, once breathed in. Now they were protected by the environmental suits that had helped save their lives in the maintenance passage. However, for all they knew Ares could always have another trick up his sleeve.

"I should go in. Alone." Maddie's voice was firm, though Ashildr was sure she could detect just a mild hint of apprehension. Over her long life she'd become exceptionally good at reading people, and she could read fear in the young woman's tones. In her mind, a string quartet played, rough and twisted notes screaming out 'NO!' yet doing so very little to dissuade anybody. She looked at Jian. He seemed relieved that Maddie had volunteered, though suitably worried for her safety. Clara, leaning off to one side, seemed as though she wanted to say something, and Ashildr had a good idea of what it would be. An argument against Maddie going inside, a plea to enter herself if only to make sure it was safe. Right now, inside the server rooms would be the more dangerous place to stand, and it sure as hell would be just like Clara to make a bold move to lessen the danger for others at her own risk. After all, it was that exact attitude that had gotten her killed in the first place.

Before Clara could say anything, Ashildr stared directly at her, and demanded on a subconscious level that the other woman's attention be drawn away. Clara could feel in her mind the sensation of being watched – though hardly a scientifically proven phenomena, she nevertheless noticed in her peripheral vision Ashildr's eyes on her. She turned slightly, to return the gaze, and noticed Ashildr shaking her head, a subtle movement yet deliberate and firm in its conviction. She knew there was no other choice. Reluctantly, she kept silent.

It wasn't that Ashildr wanted Maddie to go inside alone, quite the opposite in fact. However, she recognised the danger in that place. Maddie was the only person who was needed to complete the task, and she was the only person even able physically to do so. More people going inside would simply be putting more lives at risk for no justifiable reason. Besides, Ashildr was reluctant to allow Clara to go inside at all, even if anybody else was needed. She cared about the girl, a lot more than she was willing to admit at this stage, and if anything happened to her... Not to mention the still unknown factors in Clara's immortality. Until they knew more about her limitations, Ashildr wasn't going to allow anything bad to happen to her. The paradox potential would be much too great, just for a start.

There was a brief discussion about what to do if things went wrong. It was agreed that if Maddie was unable to finish her mission, the others were to make it back to the nearest vessel they could use to evacuate. At this point, barring any unforeseen mishap, it would be the TARDIS, although Jian was somewhat sceptical when the others explained the machine to him. They were then to make their way to the command ship where the original expedition had started from, and explain the events of the past few hours. Jian would serve as a relatively trustworthy witness, being a soldier and given his years of loyal service. They were to ensure that no attempts would be made to recover Ares before the ship had been blown to bits from a safe distance, and that subsequently every scrap of material that could be recovered from the _Tolstoy_ that Ares' data fragments could have stowed away on would be found and quarantined, to be purged later when safe to do so. It was essentially doomsday planning, but not uncalled for. With the ability of Ares to enter any system he wished, given a connection, and his already stated opinion of humanity, no precaution could be deemed too extreme.

With the plan in place, and everybody ready to proceed, Maddie placed a slender finger on the control panel and tapped the relevant icons. A light above the panel turned green, and the doors slid open. She walked through, tapped another panel inside, and just as quickly the doors closed behind her and sealed themselves. A deadlock seal, restored from Ashildr's previous hacking.

It was only after the door lights turned red, and any exit became impossible, that Clara noticed through the viewport. A rip in the environmental suit, a tiny tear, on the inside of Maddie's left leg. Just enough to render the protection offered by the suit completely meaningless.

And as she stared in horror, she could detect a very faint sound. Right on the edge of hearing. Almost like gas from a pipe...


	14. One Last Push

It didn't affect her at first. She walked across the room in an eerie silence, unable to hear anything through the sealed door or the reinforced vision panel separating the young woman from her companions. She made her way to the opposite side, to the opening that would provide access to the main server. A simple task... to plug in a cable connecting her data pad, and initiate the transfer. The virus she already had prepared would spread throughout the network, doing her work for her. So easy...

She took another step to her goal. Her throat started to itch. She scratched, idly, on top of the fabric of the environmental suit. It wasn't great for reducing the irritation, but it would have to suffice. A momentary lapse, then the feeling came back, stronger. She scratched again, but it was no good. This time the feeling wouldn't go away, no matter how hard she pressed down. Two layers of material, one on her fingers and one on her neck, diminished any positive effect the gesture would have given. In fact, it seemed as though the itching wasn't coming from her skin... but rather from inside her body itself.

Suddenly, she cried out in pain. No longer just an itch, but an agonising torment spreading out from her windpipe through to her chest. She stumbled forward, desperate to reach her goal before she succumbed. What could have caused this? Another trap? But how had Ares managed to get past the defensive barrier, the suit she wore that was sealed and kept the poison and the toxin out? She made her way forwards as much as she could, while surreptitiously checking her body for any kind of nick or tear. Then she found it. A slight rip in the fabric, presumably caused by brushing against something sharp (or so she presumed) when the gravity came back in the long corridor. Just against her thigh, but big enough for gas to get inside. She knew now that whatever was inside was going to kill her, the same way it had killed Qiang.

It was much more subtle this time, however. When the room had last been attacked, the gas had filled every space possible, in a desperate attempt to rid Ares of his foes in one fell swoop. Now, he'd been slower, more methodical, allowing the scientist to make her way as far inside as possible before noticing what was happening. As far away from help as she could possibly be. She turned her head, and saw a face in the view port, staring in wide eyed horror but unable to do anything. It was too late for her to retreat – the deadlock seal would be controlled by Ares now, she had more than likely lost any authority over the system. Nobody could get in, nobody could get out. This would be a last ditch effort to finish the mission – to end Ares before she died. There was no hope for her now, no cure that she knew of for the toxin infiltrating her body. Maddie... Madeleine Pallas... was doomed to die, and she would face her death with dignity.

She pushed forward again, forcing herself to take each step despite the pain building up inside. Every move became harder, her muscles were weakening and she struggled to breathe as her lungs began to shut down. Would she reach the main server before her time ran out? Just a few more metres to go... four... three... two... finally, she was there. Her arm reached out as she stretched across to the communication port, to plug in the connection and finally upload the virus. Before she could, however, a jolt ran through the entire ship, jerking her hand back. She hesitated, for a second too long... and the gravity disappeared, just as it had on that long corridor. She turned her head slightly to see the face, Clara, drift away from the vision panel, and knew that this wasn't only affecting her. Maddie fought through the pain, jerking her body around, trying to regain control. She was so close now! Just one final stretch...

Then it hit her. She was already affected by the toxin, there was no helping her now. She didn't need to be sealed inside a pressure suit any more. If anything, the extra toxin intake would be a blessing, as she died that bit quicker – less time to feel the agony of her organs and tissue corroding away. She knew Ares wouldn't have foreseen this. She quickly twisted her body in mid-air, no concern as to where she would drift, as she undid the seals and removed one of her boots. She would have to get the aim perfect, as she knew she would only have one chance before Ares realised what was happening and restored the gravity, with Maddie too weak to crawl across to the server. She tossed the boot, just in the right direction, and Newton's Second Law in all its glory propelled her to her final destination. She bounced off the server with her shoulder, but the shock and bruising were nothing to what she was already going through. In the swiftest of moves, Maddie plugged in the cable, and tapped on the touch-screen, having prepared in advance the commands to initiate the virus.

It would only take a few seconds to spread across the connection, into the _Tolstoy_ systems, and seek out every trace of Ares that could be found. A complete purge. Maddie knew it was too late for her. But with her final act, she had succeeded in her task. She hoped Clara and Ashildr would be proud. In a way, it had always been clear to her, on a base instinctual level, that she would not return from this mission, regardless of the details. It was a shame to bow out this way. But, she reasoned, it wouldn't be in vain. She closed her eyes, and allowed herself to drift into sleep.


	15. Deus Ex Clara

The door opened the instant Maddie hit the command on her data pad, and the remaining survivors – Clara, Ashildr, and Jian – rushed through into the server room. The toxin still in the air wouldn't affect them, as they were still wearing the environmental suits, thankfully free of any rips or tears like the one that had claimed the young scientist. Clara reached the scene first, and dropped to her knees beside Maddie, grabbing hold of her wrist and checking for a pulse. Faint, one, two beats, enough to confirm she was still alive, but only just.

"Help me out here. We need to get her to the shuttle. It has a medical bay, right?" Without waiting for a response, Clara grabbed hold of Maddie's shoulders and started to move her.

Jian ran across and took over. He was a soldier, after all, and although not much taller than the girls, he was certainly physically fitter. It wasn't much of a struggle for him to put Maddie in a fireman's carry. "Follow me." He was certainly a man of few words, but he was best placed out of the group to find a quick route to the shuttle and get them there safely. Not that there was any danger now. Ares was finished, and Ashildr now had control of the _Tolstoy_ , having picked up the data pad for safe keeping. The engines were shot to hell – Ares had taken care of them himself (if they had any chance before of being restarted or salvaged), so the shuttle and the TARDIS were the only ways off ship now. The shuttle was closer though. The main problem to be faced was that none of the group knew anything about how to cure the toxin that was slowly shutting down Maddie's body. She was drifting in and out of consciousness, no help at all to anyone, so they couldn't rely on her own knowledge. They would have to get her to the original team's command ship as soon as possible, or else her life would be forfeit.

They raced through corridors, until soon enough they reached the shuttle bay and boarded the craft. Jian wasted no time in getting Maddie to a berth in the med-bay, while Ashildr made her way to the bridge and started the ship. Clara wasn't sure what to make of this.

"You didn't tell me you could fly one of these things?"

"It's been a while," replied Ashildr, as she focused on the controls. "I've flown lots of different ships before, not all of them human. You tend to pick these things up when you've lived as long as I have."

"You're full of surprises, you know?" Clara replied, a faint smile on her lips. She considered saying something else, something more light hearted and witty, but now wasn't the time. There would be plenty of chance for flirty banter and snarky comments later, but the priority was getting Maddie to safety. She retreated to the med-bay to find Jian making the other woman as comfortable as possible.

"I have to talk to you." He didn't waste time, nor did he waste words. "You can't be on board here. Not for this journey."

Clara found it hard to read his face. A true soldier alright. He looked stern, despite his youth, and focused on the goal at hand. "Why not?"

She thought, however, that she already knew the answer. "Remember what the sergeant said when you first arrived? How we didn't trust you? That will be nothing compared to reaching the command ship. You won't be able to get away. Your ship is still on board the _Tolstoy_ , correct?"

He'd clearly thought this through, and Clara had to admit he had a point. Jian would be able to take Maddie back, and get her the help she needed. Assuming, of course, that it wasn't too late, as the toxin ate her away from the inside. Whereas Clara and Ashildr would be much more suspicious. They would be taken, held, and have no way of reaching the _Tolstoy_ again before it was fired on and destroyed. The TARDIS would be lost, and they would be stranded.

She went to the bridge and explained everything to Ashildr. It was heartbreaking, but the other girl agreed and left the controls, up and running and ready for Jian to launch. They didn't have a lot of time to say their goodbyes. It was unlikely they would be able to return any time soon, since Maddie would be under heavy guard from the moment she made it back to the Alliance. This would be it. They both went to her, kissed her briefly on the forehead and gave a quick hug, and turned away. It was hard. Although they'd only known her for a short time, and although they would soon see her past self again (however briefly that would be – and they didn't even want to consider the information paradox that would be formed, stable though it was), it was upsetting to leave like this, unable to know if she would survive or not.

They stepped off the shuttle, and as the doors hissed shut behind them, Jian pushed forward on the throttle in the bridge and began the (hopefully brief) journey back to the command ship. Clara and Ashildr were silent as they made their way back to the TARDIS. Although they would talk to each other later in the day, the atmosphere was sullen and depressing. Neither was in the mood for laughter and jokes. Clara, especially, could understand the Doctor a little better now. How he must have felt, whenever anything happened to his previous companions, or even just the random people he met on his journeys. How lonely it must be for him. How lonely it was now, for them. Although they had each other, she and Ashildr. That was something, at least.

* * *

The shuttle made its way through space, closing the gap between the command ship and the _Tolstoy_ as quickly as possible, but as safely as possible too. The destination was an orbiting pattern just a couple of miles from the Nerva Beacon, that shining station in the sky above Jupiter. Jian was at the helm, controlling the approach, while Maddie remained where she lay. Her breathing had stabilised, but she had a matter of moments. It was unlikely they would reach the command ship in time. She was barely awake, sometimes coherent and sometimes asleep, but it was clear to anyone watching that she was fading fast.

Suddenly, a blue and white glow appeared in the medical bay, and in the blink of an eye a young woman stepped forward. Or rather, she appeared to be young. She had chestnut brown hair, straight and shoulder length, and a round face with very familiar eyes. On her wrist was a bracelet, leather with a covering flap concealing the inside.

"C... Clara?" Maddie's voice was little more than a whisper. "I don't... u-understand..."

"Shhh," came the response. "We don't have much time." Something seemed wrong about this Clara. She looked slightly older, but that couldn't have been the case. Was this some future version of her, ageing ever so slowly? And where was Ashildr? Or, for that matter, the TARDIS?

"I'm going to take you somewhere. If we wait to reach the command ship, you'll die. There's no time left to get you there. But I know a place that can heal you. You just have to trust me."

"I..." Maddie barely had the strength to talk. The pain inside her was unbearable, and it seemed to her to be a miracle she had any internal organs left, with the toxin eating away at them. Surely her death should have already come? Perhaps there was a sort of energy field, or Jian had injected her with something, to slow the toxin down. It had been entering her body at a much slower rate in the server room than for the others, when the first fatality had arrived. That must have given her some more time. But now it seemed that time was about to run out.

"Take my hand." Without waiting for an answer, Clara grabbed hold of Maddie's right wrist and held tight. With her other hand, she quickly pressed underneath the leather flap. The air around them turned light blue, and everything seemed to glow... and a second later, they found themselves in a room of white walls and sterile furniture. A chair in the corner, a bed, curtains, and a door to a hallway that was, again, white and sterile. Through a window in the door, Maddie could vaguely see a shape, humanoid, but covered in... fur? Pointy ears higher than they should be... some type of alien, she guessed.

"The Sisters of Plenitude," said Clara, noticing her staring. "They're Catkind, a religious order dedicated to healing. This is much later than we came from. You're in the future."

She waited a moment for the news to sink in, then continued. "They have a cure for nearly everything. I've already told them about the toxin. They can cure you, but I can't stay with you. There are too many things I need to do right now."

"Wh-what?" Maddie was barely awake now, but she could still register what was being said. She didn't understand any of this. There were too many questions racing through her mind but no time to answer them. Who was this Clara, this older Clara, and how had they made it to this future place? A hospital, she assumed. It was the only logical place they could be.

"When you're healed, I'll come back for you. I need you to understand that. Maddie... you have no idea how important you are. I will come back. I promise."

Before Maddie could react, Clara opened up the flap on her leather bracelet once more, and this time she could see what was inside. A round metal panel, some buttons and a chrome control pad. Clara tapped on the control pad a few times, in a specific pattern, and pressed on of the buttons. The same blue glow that had previously enveloped them both returned, and before Maddie could glance away and back again, the other woman was gone, taking the glowing light with her.

She dragged herself to the bed, and slumped against it, stunned. What had just happened? The bracelet, or rather the panel inside, was some sort of time travel device, that much was clear, but where had Clara gone, and where had she come from? What part of the timeline? Before she could spend too much time considering this, losing strength by the second, the door opened and a Catkind nurse walked in.

"Miss... Pallas, I believe? We were told to expect you." Before any explanation could be given, two more nurses entered, and the three felines lifted Maddie onto the bed, over the sheets. One of them placed a cloth across her temples and pressed down, sending a sharp searing pain through her mind. She felt, however, a small modicum of strength return. Before she could lift her head and speak, though, she felt herself becoming more and more tired.

Blessed oblivion soon set in. There was only silence, and the black void.


	16. A Scanner Lightly

The TARDIS was quiet. Of course, it often seemed that way if only because of the size inside, but usually the hum of activity would be faintly heard in the background, as the vessel travelled through the time vortex and delivered its occupants to far flung places and moments. For now, the console room was empty, and they were waiting on an asteroid in a distant galaxy in some corner of the cosmos. They had already decided to alter the 'desktop background', switching through a few options before finally settling on a steampunk aesthetic – lots of clockwork devices littering the layout and bookshelves lining the walls with a timber floor and comfy sofas around the sides. From the console itself leading to the doors was a clear glass walkway under which could be seen multiple levels and balcony railings on each, like a shaft into the bowels of the TARDIS. Two staircases branched from either side of the front door (leading out to the so-called diner) with a balcony encircling the console room and big wooden doors leading to other parts of the ship. A lot of the decor was clearly Old Gallifreyan, with the script of that hidden and ancient language inscribed on various surfaces and objects. Ashildr, for her part, was wandering around, exploring the limits of their new home. Clara, meanwhile, was busying herself with something a little more... introspective.

"Knew I'd find you somewhere," said Ashildr as she stepped into an empty, white room a few levels directly below the console. For a moment, there was silence.

"It's peaceful." Clara's voice was barely more than a whisper. "I can try to forget about everything here. Dying... it doesn't feel so bad."

They stayed in silence for a while longer, before cutting the air with Ashildr's words. "You feel guilty. Don't you?"

Clara turned, and looked into her eyes. "How did he feel? Every day, knowing that people had died because he couldn't save them, or couldn't stop it? I saw so many lives lost when I travelled with the Doctor, but it was never me in charge, never me calling the shots. Now... I couldn't save them. People died on that ship and I couldn't do anything for them." Tears were starting to well up, but Clara didn't even try to hide them. It was clear to Ashildr that the other woman was at her most vulnerable, baring her soul for the sake of soldiers they had hardly known more than a few hours. It had hit her, so hard, and it was heartbreaking to watch. She listened, and didn't reply, allowing Clara to continue. "It hurts, so much. I thought... I thought being here might help."

"Where is here?" Ashildr asked.

"The Zero Room. There's one on every TARDIS. It's supposed to be a place of healing, of rest." Clara choked back a bitter laugh. "Can't say I feel very restful. I keep seeing them. Their faces." She went silent again, and the two women stood for a few moments, thinking about the past few days and everything they had been through. Guilt was the ever present emotion that dominated their minds. Eventually, Ashildr turned, and left. She knew she had many more demons in her past, much more than Clara to feel guilty about. Many more wrongs to make right. Not least of which was to Clara herself.

Even so, she couldn't help but whisper under her breath, to no-one but herself, as she walked away. "You're just like him, you know."

* * *

It was a couple of days later, relative to them travelling through the vortex, when they decided on their next step. Something had been weighing on Clara's mind ever since their visit to the _Tolstoy_ , beyond the deaths they had witnessed. She had been close to the end herself, a number of times, yet what would happen were she to die? Her entire existence was now based on the fixed point of her own expiration date, in the trap street in London where she had been plucked out of time by the Doctor, in his well-meaning but futile attempt to save her life. She would eventually have to return to that time and place, to face the raven, but there was no hurry as long as the Time Lords didn't chase her down before then. So, if something were to happen to her, would a paradox not occur? If she died in the past, or the future, Clara had reasoned, then she wouldn't be able to die in the right place later on. The Doctor would have had no reason to go back there, because her physical person would not have been present at the moment of death for him to witness and resolve to save her. A twisted, reversed version of the grandfather paradox.

In addition, she wanted to know what would happen to her before meeting her final fate. Would she ever have a beating heart again? And would she continue to age, slowly, maybe gaining a grey hair or two after a few thousand years? Maybe vanity played a small part in that, although she wasn't usually vain by nature. Another thing was her body and its functions. She could feel herself breathing, but was it just habit? Could she survive without oxygen, or even in a complete vacuum? She'd used the toilet in the past few days, but did she even need to eat or drink? Surely so, as otherwise she would lose strength or dry out and become nothing but a dusty mummified corpse, shambling around but unable to pass on. And as for, well, intimate matters... would she still be physically capable of that? The answer seemed relatively obvious. She would need to scan herself, fully, using whatever technology the TARDIS had to offer.

"Do you seriously believe this will work?" Ashildr was sceptical, of course, when Clara outlined the plan over breakfast.

"Why wouldn't it? Time Lords did this, Time Lord scanners can analyse it, right?" She was upbeat and happy, for the first time in days, pleased with her own bright idea.

"Don't you think if the TARDIS could scan you, the Doctor would have done it when he first saved you from the trap street? If there was any clue he could find..."

"Different TARDISes." Clara had thought about this, and believed she had the answer. "He has a type forty. Ours is a fifty-seven, much more advanced. More pancakes?"

"Even so, " replied Ashildr, "the Time Lords could have easily scanned you on Gallifrey. You told me they didn't even try." She carried on eating for a moment, pancakes, strawberries, and syrup fresh from the diner, and continued. "Why bother bringing someone from the brink of death if they don't know the physical ramifications? Why take the risk of the paradox?"

"Maybe they didn't want to know. What's the point of scanning someone and working out the ins and outs of their immortality if you're just going to stick them back in the place where they die, straight afterwards? If they were that scared of a paradox forming then they wouldn't keep someone around for long. That's why they chased the Doctor, and me. They were terrified." Clara mused for a second, as this sank in.

"I suppose they were right," said Ashildr. "You're literally a walking, talking paradox."

"Just think about it though. If the scanners on board the TARDIS can tell me anything, it's worth a try, right? If not, then no harm done." With that seemingly settled, they continued to eat and talked about other, more mundane things. They'd just started getting to know each other, after the technically billions of years of acquaintance. They had a lot to catch up on, after all...

* * *

It wasn't working quite the way she had planned. Clara had gone down to another room, deeper in the bowels of the TARDIS, that had what appeared to be a variety of medical equipment. She had identified the scanning devices based on her experiences with the Doctor and through an inventory manifest located on the vessel's computer system. It didn't take long to get the bio-scanner working, but the results hadn't been what she hoped for. Ashildr, it seemed, was right. What Time Lord technology had achieved couldn't necessarily be analysed by other Time Lord technology. Clara had tried all sorts of combinations of devices, any amount of settings, and in one brief moment had even stripped down to her underwear in the belief that her clothes were blocking the short wave radiation from the scanner (she'd sent Ashildr out of the room for that, although notably only after a brief hesitation). Nothing had worked. She had to concede defeat – even on a type-57 TARDIS, the paradox of her continued existence just couldn't be explained.

Fortunately, Ashildr knew a potential workaround. "There are other immortals, you know. Not just us. Maybe one of them had the same questions. They could have found an answer."

Clara listened, as she studied a panel hoping to work out how to increase the scanner's capability. "That's great, but how many did you actually know?" she replied. She couldn't really see Ashildr as the most social sort.

"Quite a few, actually," said Ashildr. "When I realised there were others like me, I started to look for them. Easy to notice when you learn the signs. We stuck together mostly. It's less difficult to relate to someone when you know they aren't going to die in a few short years."

"That's a rather morbid outlook," Clara stated.

"Maybe. But it gives us an opportunity. I know someone who has access to all sorts of technology, and is very definitely immortal."

This made Clara stop and turn. Intrigued, she asked, "Who do you have in mind?"

"Oh, you'll see..." Ashildr smiled, a Cheshire Cat smirk, as she slowly walked away.

* * *

A skip, hop and jump later, temporally speaking, and the TARDIS landed (quiet and smooth, unlike the Doctor's ship...) outside a set of blast doors built into a large granite cliff. The landscape ahead was jagged and rocky, mountainous, with an amber sun angled above the horizon. The ground was bare except for patches of a strange purple grass, and brown shrubs dotting the terrain. It could have been Earth except for the different colours of the flora, and the two-headed snake lazily drifting along the ground away from the ship some distance away. They couldn't land on the other side of the doors, as Ashildr mentioned - "The security here, you wouldn't believe..." - but that didn't matter too much as they walked up to the blast doors. They didn't bother to knock, but waited a few minutes until the metal apertures slowly opened. In the opening stood a solitary man, dark hair and vintage military attire that looked vaguely recognisable to Clara as originating from Earth.

"Well," he said, grinning. "Guess we have company."

The smile grew wider and the eyes beamed, directly at Clara, as he continued. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness. Welcome to Torchwood."


End file.
